Take Away This Pain You Gave Me

by Temperance Cain

Sequel to 'Give Me (Back My) Love.' Elena and Bonnie are stuck in the 1994 prison world with Kai, and Elijah has been taken by Esther. As Elena fights go get home to the man she loves, Esther reveals some long-hidden secrets that may change their relationship forever. Part Four of 'Love Gives As Much As It Takes.'

Warning: Use of language, as well as mentions of blood and violence in this story. Also, you'll need to have read 'How Long Did It Take,' 'Its Gonna Take A Lot (To Drag Me Away From You,' and 'Give Me (Back My) Love,' for this ho make sense. Spoilers for The Original's episode 'The Red Door,' and The Vampire Diaries episode 'The World Has Turned And Left Me Here.'

---

Elijah was dreaming again. Was dreaming of her. This was not an unusual occurrence; ever since Elena had died, Elijah saw her every ight when he closed his eyes, pleasant dreams and nightmares alike. Even the dreams full of blood and horror, where she died in his arms or he was powerless to save her, were welcome, since it meant Elijah got to see her, one more time, even if it was only in his subconscious.

But this felt...different. Deeper. Fuller. Real. Or perhaps both his mind and his body were just so desperate to escape from his mother's ministrations of torture that he was just deluding himself. Because Elijah knew in his heart that he wasn't really on a picnic blanket in New Orleans City Park, his head resting in her lap and her fingers idly threading through his hair the way the afternoon sunshine was threading hers with gold, her mouth a dusky pink and her eyes a sparkling brown, luminescent with laughter and easy joy...but dear God did he want to be.

"You're falling asleep on me," Elena teases him, poking him gently on the shoulder, engagement and wedding ring sparkling on her left hand, and if he looks down, he knows he'll see one on his own finger, too, a ring that used to be a daylight ring but isn't now, is so much more than that...

Elijah smiles, grabbing onto her finger and taking it as invitation to kiss his way up her bare arm, smirking triumphantly at the flush that creeps up her chest and stains her cheeks. "Do I look asleep to you?" he asks her, watching intently as she bites her lip and shakes her head. "You're incorrigible."

Satisfied, he settles back, closing his eyes against the brightness of the sun, red starbursts dancing behind his closed eyelids. Just as he does indeed find himself nodding off, Elijah hears a giggle, high-pitched and brimming over with delight. He instinctively turns towards it, as does Elena, and he hears her voice call out, "Evangeline Mikaelson, what have I told you putting your hands in bushes?"

The sound of pattering feet on soft grass, then, "I know, Mommy, but i saw a really pretty butterfly. Do you wanna see?"

Opening his eyes, he sees his daughter cupping a delicate pink butterfly between her palms, the same colour as the ribbons in her hair, looking at it like she's just discovered a new wonder of the world, and he knows he'll never get tired of that look, that the most precious wonder in all the world to him is her, and her mother, and he'll never cease being amazed by both of them, by this little girl with his eyes and Elena's smile and a magic that's completely her own.

Elijah's no lepidopterist, but even he knows that butterfly's of that colour do not naturally occur in nature, which can only mean that-

"Hope!" their daughter squeals, bounding over to her cousin, the two tackling each other in a fierce embrace like they didn't just see each other yesterday, the five year old chattering away to the seven year old animatedly, thanking her for the butterfly while Klaus and Hayley look on fondly.

Then Evie was racing over to him, her tiny arms wrapping around his neck, her brown her tickling his cheek, and he holds on like he never wants to let go, because he doesn't...

"It's time to wake up, my dear boy," his mother said, jolting him back to consciousness, and at the sound of her voice Elijah wanted nothing more in that moment to rip out of her heart from ripping him away from that small slice of paradise, as unrealistic and impossible as it was. "It seems you were having quite the dream."

At his silent response, Esther clicked her tongue, surveying him with a look of disapproval, eerily similar to those of his human youth, despite the fact she was no longer in her own body. Strange, how some things stayed the same, no matter what. "You still remain adamant on not talking to me, it seems."

Elijah raised his head, only so much so he could say, "I have nothing to say to you," before lowering it once again, staring at the stone floor but not really seeing it, his mind still caught up in what he'd just witnessed, what he'd felt. Sunlight on his face. Elena's smile. The sound of laughter, bright and carefree and so very innocent, untouched by evil or cruelty.

"You looked happy, wherever you are," Esther remarked, almost like the feeling were some unknowable, alien thing, high above on a surface she could and would never reach. Maybe it was, to her: when was the last time she'd been happy, truly happy? Before Henrik died? Before the plague took Freya, the sister he'd never known, but had still felt her loss, the hole it made in their family? Or had she never felt the emotion at all? "Thinking of your latest doppelgänger, perhaps?" A smile, cruel and bitter, crossed her face. "What was her name?" his mother mused, and it made his jaw clench and his chest tight, the thought that anyone could find his dear beloved forgettable. "It's so hard to keep track, there's been so many. Ah, yes, Elena-"

"Don't you say her name! How dare you even think it. Elena was far better than you could ever comprehend," Elijah spat at her, something inside himself rearing up, ready to strike, to defend what was his even if she no longer lived. He would never let anyone insult her memory, not while he walked this earth.

"I know. Do you forget, Elijah, that I met her? That I saw her from the Other Side? She was such a doe of a thing, so meek and trusting, always wanting to see the best in others. Even you. When I tried to kill you all, I could tell she did not want me to take her blood, but knew her refusal would mean little, since I'd take it by force...and perhaps punish any defiance as I saw fit. And you were angry, where you not? Your precious, lovely Elena, lying right to your face. So much so you left her to your sister, knowing she would not be kind to her, that Rebekah wanted her dead, even. But family came above all. Except...when she died. You could have stayed in New Orleans, stayed with your brother and the mother of his child, but you did not. You abandoned them, Elijah, you chose one single girl over your family, you, who loved them like even I could not. Had you stayed, you might have even been able to save your poor, innocent niece," she suggested, equal parts mournful and gloating. "Did you go, perhaps, out of guilt? For that one mistake, one you apologized for in a letter..."

She couldn't know all that, she wasn't there for that, which could mean only one thing..."Get out of my head, Esther."

His mother rolled her eyes, a motion so unlike her, and Elijah couldn't help but wonder if it was a distraction, to detract from the fact that him calling her by her name hurt her more than she would ever admit. "Calm yourself, Elijah: there's nothing to be done about it. I am everywhere, crawling around in that brain of yours. It's so dark, darker than I anticipated, than I ever wanted you to be...apart from her. You just can't help yourself, can you? Falling for the same woman, over and over again. Enraptured by the beautiful butterfly. Hoping this time they'll pick you, that you will be worthy of them, that they won't see you for what you really are: a monster. An abomination. My greatest mistake, you and your siblings all."

This routine was old by now, a song and dance of which he knew every note, every step, the way he knew the freckles on Elena's cheek or just how many steps it was from the Abattoir to her grave. "Elena was nothing like Katerina. Or Tatia."

"No, I suppose not," Esther conceded with a sharp tilt of her head. "You never harmed her, physically, and you've left Katerina to her fate many times over the centuries, could have gotten Niklaus to pardon her if you'd so wished, his ever-noble council. Perhaps Elena was different, perhaps she was the one...or perhaps you would have been her downfall, her undoing, been her murderer...as you were Tatia's."

Elijah shook his head, shackles clanking. "I never hurt Tatia. I did not kill her. The title as her murderer belongs to you and you alone." He would never forget it, as long as he lived. Finding her body, drained of blood, clawed at like an animal. Walking home, slowly, trying to find the words to tell his brother that the woman they had both loved was with them no more.

"Does it?" she questioned, seemingly lording some secret knowledge over him, dangling it at him like he were some cat she wished to play with. "Are you sure? Or is that only what you wanted to think, what you made yourself think, since the truth was simply too much for you to bear?"

No. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't need to hear it. Elijah tried to block out his mother's words, to instead think of Elena, of the dream he'd been having, or better yet, true memories -of her laughter, the first time he took her to Rousseau's and tried to convince him to do karaoke with her, of looking up at the balcony on the way back to the Abattoir after a meeting, a book in her hand, and she'd look up at the exact same moment like she knew he was staring, with the softest smile he'd ever seen, of kisses at midnight and arguments over who had to go deal with Klaus when he did something stupid, of the way her heartbeat made him feel safe, for the first time in all his life, how it sounded like home- a million little moments that were all keeping him going, had kept him going since the night he'd lost her, and kept him from falling off the edge completely, giving him just that extra inch of ground to stand on, to keep him grounded.

He'd needed it.

But Esther Mikaelson was nothing if not relentless, and she pushed on, rubbing salt in an already aching wound. "Come now, Elijah: I know you better than you know yourself. I know you're curious."

"No."

Esther shrugged, picking up a knife and weighing it in her hand. "No matter. I shall let the idea fester for now: I know you'll ask eventually. But in the meantime, I want to see what else my dear child has been up to," she said, and dived into his head once more.

---

Elena woke from a dream that didn't feel like a dream, her heart pounding and the taste of salt on her lips. She felt silly, crying over something that she knew wasn't real...but it had felt true, an irrepressible urge of wanting filling every inch of her until she couldn't take it any more, picked up her robe from the end of the bed and padded across the hallway to Bonnie's room, only to remember that she wasn't there, that she was miles away in Mystic Falls and Elena was in a hotel in a city who's name she hadn't even bothered to read when she drove through last night. Instead, she found her phone in amongst yesterday's clothes and dialled, stepping out into the morning light on order to get a better reception on the old clunky thing.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first morning where she'd woken up crying these past few months, ever since they'd ended up in some weird version of May 10th, 1994. It hadn't taken long to figure out -one glance at the paper had told them all they needed to know- and the first few days had been a whirl of sleepless nights, testing out this new world of theirs, what worked and what didn't. Since Bonnie was no longer the Anchor to the Other Side, she had her magic back, and Elena was still a vampire, which meant trips to Mystic Falls General, then venturing further out when the blood bags started to dwindle. There was electricity, and running water, but no people around to maintain such things, creepily reminiscent of Under the Dome, the book by Stephen King that had weirded Elena out when she read it, too similar to Lord of The Flies for her liking. And while she'd never eat Bonnie, and vice versa...the loneliness was the same. The sense of being isolated, cut-off.

The fact that everyone Elena loved thought she and Bonnie were dead, and they had no way of telling them otherwise certainly made it all the harder. So they'd decided to move into Sheila Bennet's old house, neither wanting to live in their own without their family there, most of whom where dead in their time -Bonnie had briefly considered the Boarding House, because of its size and it's familiarity, but Elena didn't feel right in there anymore, especially with how she'd left things with Damon, and the fact that Stefan's last memory of Elena was the brunette punching him in the face so that he could cross over, since she'd known he wouldn't have gone otherwise, her silent way of thanking him for all he'd done for her, for saving her life in so many ways, big and small, when she'd been human.

These past few months, slowly and surely, they'd gone through every grimoire and magical scroll and text they could get their hands on, visiting towns of various Bennett family members and seeing if they could find anything on how to get back home. But there was nothing. At this point, Elena would have been happy with a tornado and a pair of silver slippers. She missed Elijah. It seemed silly to say it -he was the love of her life; of course she missed him- but Elena felt it with every breath, every second, like she'd been ripped in half, incomplete, bleeding out from an invisible wound that was killing her very, very slowly.

She wasn't the only one suffering, of course, Bonnie was right there with her, had just as many people that she missed and wanted to get back to...but Elijah was her fiancé; she had a ring on her finger that proved it. She had a niece that would of been born by now who she couldn't wait to meet.

"Bad dream?" Bonnie asked softly as soon as she picked up, somehow sensing in that best friend way of hers just what Elena was feeling.

Elena shook her head, imagining she was in Bonnie's room, looking up at a ceiling she remembered had once been covered in stick-on stars rather than stripes blazing sunshine. "No, a good one. Too good. It was perfect. And not like how those Traveler visions were, but a real kind of perfect. I was with Elijah at the park, and we had a daughter..." she trailed off, swiping at her face, watching as her tears dropped from her fingers loke raindrops. "It felt so real, Bonnie. I felt like I was there, and that he was there with me. I was so happy, and then I woke up and it felt like dying, like I'd been taken away from where I was supposed to be."

"I'm sorry, Elena. That sounds like a really nice dream. At least you know we're going home soon. This time tomorrow, you'll be back in Mystic Falls and I can do the spell with Kai, and then you'll be running off to New Orleans and your loving vampires arms."

"Right," Elena nodded stiffly. "How are things with Kai going?"

As it turned out, they hadn't been quite as alone as they'd originally thought. A few weeks ago, Kai Parker had shown up, who had supposedly been trapped here for years. Bonnie seemed to get along well with him, but he hadn't exactly endeared himself to Elena, especially since they first met when he'd set up a trap to hurt her. It had happened after Elena and Bonnie got into their tenth fight over who ate the last of the Lucky Charms -as it turned out, Bonnie had been right and it was Elena, but she brought an extra box to cheer the healing vampire up- and Elena had needed to cool off, going to the grocery store to 'buy' some supplies. In a scene eerily reminiscent of her first days at Whitmore, Elena went to take a sip of her new bottle of Diet Coke only to spit it out when her throat began to burn; the bottle had been chock full of vervain.

She was used to drinking it, but not in such a large quantity, and she hadn't been drinking as much blood since her reserves had been getting low so her body wasn't healing fast enough. Luckily, Bonnie had walked in seconds later, apologizing for the cereal and coming face to face with her poisoned friend...and Kai. Who somehow knew all about them, knew that Bonnie was a witch but that she didn't have her magic, had set this up as some kind of twisted test, putting Elena's life in danger to reawaken Bonnie's magic, just like when Damon had 'killed' Matt to get Elena to turn her humanity back on.

Just like it did for her, it worked then, too, and Bonnie was able to save her. It was one of the reasons she'd left, deciding to strike out on her own for a while. Taking the first car she saw -some sixties Impala that Stefan would have probably drooled over- she packed a bag with a few supplies and said goodbye to Bonnie, promising to keep in touch by phone and driven through backroads and woodlands, exploring and reconnecting with the part of her that had loved camping and nature, sleeping out under the stars. Eventually, she had decided on a location: France. It has been a nightmare, trying to figure out how to get there, and how to work a boat. In the end, Elena had decided to 'borrow' the only proper boat she'd ever been on, belonging to the Lockwood's, the one that Tyler had taken her and the gang out on when they were sixteen for a two day getaway one summer. She'd vaguely remembered him pushing various buttons and dials, and after a few hours' trial and error, it was smooth sailing -pun intended. France was beautiful, especially Paris, although she had also enjoyed the countryside of Province for a time, all the fields of wildflowers and the smell of grapes from neighbouring vineyards -she'd had plenty of wine to explore, taste buds learning to differentiate between the various hints and tones; Elijah would be proud.

Elena had gone to feel closer to Elijah, since that was where he'd been in 1994. He'd told her about it her second week in New Orleans, when they'd been walking back to the Abattoir after Elijah had taken her out to dinner. Strolling along the Jackson River, the moonlight casting brilliant silvery sparks along the water, Elijah's hand in hers and his dinner jacket around her shoulders, she'd looked up and asked him, "Where have you been all my life?"

And he'd told her. Going through every year, from 1992 until 2009 when they first met, he'd told her of his travels, various adventures and catastrophes, the people he'd met and the things he'd seen. So that was how she knew to be at a little apartment on the Rue de Tivoli, with a charming patisserie across the street and of course only a few minutes away from the Librairie Galignani, which was just so very Elijah, and somewhere Elena had always been passionately desperate to visit. It was gorgeous, and enchanting, and the smell of old books eased her weary soul...but she was pained by the knowledge that it would have been infinitely better with Elijah by her side. His apartment had been even worse, with his clothes still out and a journal spread open on the desk, a pen still resting in the center to mark his place, like he'd gotten up unexpectedly. She was getting it had something to do with the envelope on the side table, postmarked from Alaska, covered in Klaus' blocky scrawl.

It was weird to think there'd been a time where they were so at odds, that they couldn't be in the same room without spilling blood. Of course, they didn't always get along in her time/world, but still...they were family. They loved each other. Although Klaus had deserved it, just a little. He was a better man now, one she looked forward to seeing again along with the rest of their family.

Elena had read through all his journals, gone through every bookshop and boutique and pastry shop before deciding to head home. But not before she'd decided to make some detours, one of which was in Charlotte, to burn down the crypt where Mikael had been. He wasn't there, of course, but she'd felt better, watching the thing burn.

Bonnie's voice jolted her back to the present as she apologized, "Sorry I had to go away for a minute, Kai was messing up my system with the grimoires." Elena heard her pull the phone away for a second and yell, "*I told you not to eat those things in my house!" Honestly, the guy's still a total nightmare," she said at a more reasonable decibel level, "I'll be glad to have you back. Where are you again? You didn't say before you fell asleep on me last night."

"Somewhere just outside of Richmond, I think. Shouldn't take me more than a couple hours to get back. Is there anything you want me to pick up?"

Elena's bag was stuffed with shirts of Elijah's, as well as some of the books she'd read on her travels. It was so strange, going into a shop and seeing old displays of things she remembered from long ago, like stepping back into her childhood, only she was still an adult. Everything looked so old to her, from the VHS tapes to the buildings and the cars in the empty streets. There were no internet cafes, no phone shops or gas stations with electric charging hubs. It made Elena appreciate her world all the more, how things had changed. Would she feel like this in ten years time, or twenty, looking back on her memories of life as she'd known it before she and Bonnie had ended up here?

Caroline had once made a joke about them going to cafes on the moon, but in the past few weeks, the thought didn't seem so crazy.

"No, I think we're all good. Maybe some candles of the non-magical kind, since they do have other uses too. Oh, and some ear plugs."

"Ear plugs?" Elena chuckled, making her way down the steps at the back of the block, heading for the tiny staff room where she'd spotted some coffee on her perusal of the place the night before.

"Kai has literally not stopped talking since you left," Bonnie said by way of explanation. "He had all these strange requests and he told me some story about his childhood and yeah, I felt pretty bad for him, you know? He seemed to have it rough as a kid. I know what it's like to have so much magic inside you that you can't control, after everything that happened with Shane and the Expression magic. But I don't know, 'Lena...something in my gut keeps nagging at me, like when you think you've left the stove on or had your curlers plugged in too long. Like a sixth sense."

"Do you think it's magic-related?" she wondered, washing up a mug in the sink as she waited for the machine, phone nestled between her neck and shoulder -just because germs couldn't kill her didn't mean she liked the thought of ingesting them; growing up with a doctor of a father, hygiene lessons had been drilled into her as often as table etiquette and want spoons to use with what dishes.

"I'm not sure," the witch replied, unusually tense. "What I am sure of is how much I miss you, and our friends. I just want to go home."

"I know, Bonnie, I know," Elena sympathized with her. "And don't worry, we will. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of it."

She could clearly picture her best friend shaking her head. "No. No, don't say that. That's how you got stuck here in the first place, remember? Being all stupid and heroic."

The brunette chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee. Not half bad. She had been kinda spoiled in New Orleans, since both Elijah and Klaus had very expensive tastes when it came to coffee -and pretty much everything else, too.

"Mmm. Stupid and heroic. I wonder where ice heard that before?" Elena teased her playfully.

Bonnie's laugh sounded in her ears, making her smile. It was good to hear it again. "Ha, ha, very funny. Just...come home, okay? Come home so we can go home."

"I'm already on my way," Elena assured her, rinsing out her mug and leaving it to dry on the sink. "I'll see you in a few hours, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too," Bonnie replied and ended the call.

Loosing a heavy breath, Elena headed back to her hotel room, beginning the arduous process of packing her bag. She was going home today. She was going to see Elijah. By nightfall, she'd be in his arms and everything would be perfect.

When her bags were done, she threw them in the trunk of her car and pulled out, treeline passing by her in a lemon-green blur, cassette tape blaring.

Elena Gilbert was coming home.

---

Everyone else had given up hope. Everyone else had moved on. But not Caroline Elizabeth Forbes. Or Enzo, since he was the only one who seemed to be really helping. Jeremy was still in Mystic Falls, parented under the watchful eye of her mother, hanging out with Matt and getting good grades in school. Alaric had taken up a job at Whitmore, and Caroline could only hope he didn't turn into a Dr Shane 2.0 because seriously, he needed a shave, and he didn't socialize with anyone, he was basically turning into a vampire hermit and it worried her because she knew it would have worried Elena if she was still here, but she wasn't which was the whole problem...

As was the fact that they were no closer to bringing her back. The old gang hadn't all been in the same room since Bonnie and Elena's funeral, and it bothered her. A lot. Tyler was busy enjoying his newly human(ish) status and hanging out with Liv -there was definitely something going on there, Carolien had a nose for these things- and Stefan...she didn't let herself think about him a lot. He was still in Portland, still living in some stupid fantasy land where the last three years hadn't happened, like he didn't have friends who cared about him and wanted to help him. And Damon. Who had skippity-doo-dahed off to Atlanta after 'The Incident,' AKA punching Elena's grieving fiancée at her own funeral -and that of her best friend- and saying awful things about her that totally weren't true.

So, yeah. Everything pretty much sucked.

"*You're pouting," Enzo said by way of greeting when she picked up the phone, accent laced heavily with teasing like an English tea table.

"I'm not!" Caroline cried indignantly, staring up at the ceiling of her dorm -Note: empty dorm, since her BFFs were...gone and she didn't want to share and had compelled the secretary in charge of Student Housing to make sure of it. "I'm not," she said with a little less force. "It's just...I met another dead end. I've pulled the whole 'You're the reason one of my bestest friends is dead' card so many times that no amount of ironing will ever get those wrinkles out, plus the fact that paper burns so you shouldn't put them near irons anyway...but how about you?" Caroline wondered, putting on her cheeriest sunshine tone. "Anything promising?"

"Not a thing." Enzo wasn't one to sugar-coat things. She liked that. It made a good balance for them, the whole grumpy spell investigator/sunshine spell investigator. It was an effective dynamic, or at least on paper.

"But we won't give up, right? We won't let this deter us in our noble quest to get them home?" she said, uncertainty creeping in at the edges, shadows eclipsing her sunshine.

"No, we won't give up," Enzo promised her, and instantly she felt her shoulders drop what felt like a good ten feet in relief. "Just because we haven't found something yet doesn't mean it doesn't exist. These things always have loopholes. Four months ago, you and I were both ghosts, but weren't not now. We did the impossible; we can do it again."

"Enzo, have you ever thought about a career in motivational speaking?" Caroline jokes, fluffing up her pillow behind her head, his chuckle echoing in her ears.

"Gotta say love, it's a no on that one. But I appreciate the thought. I just...I think of what I would have wanted someone to say to me, while I was at Augustine. It's easier to not give up hope when you have someone to inspire it, and you inspire it a great deal, Caroline Forbes. You've stuck by me when you didn't have much of a reason to. I won't ever forget that, and I'm sure Bonnie and Elena won't either when they get back. They'll throw you one hell of a party."

"They'll throw us one hell of a party," the blonde instantly corrected him, grinning happily when he replied, "Fine, I suppose you're right."

"I usually am. But you're pretty good at being right, too. I have high expectations when it comes to partners in magical research crime."

"If that's the case, can I offer you a bit of advice?"

"Sure," Caroline accepted warily, but ultimately trusting him. Enzo had seen her cry, a blubbering, sobbing, raccoon-eyed -she didn't have anything against racoons, she'd met one once when she went camping with her dad and it hadn't seemed all that bad, eyes included- mess, and that kind of thing bonded you, at least in Caroline's book.

She never let anyone see her cry if she couldn't help it. It was her thing.

"Are they still having that incredibly lame-looking Corn Maze party that I saw them hanging out flyers for the other week?"

"Yeah, I think so." She'd forgotten all about it."

"Go. Have some fun. Let loose. Kick back. Be a teenager for a while. Everything will still be here when you get back."

"Including you and your oh so witty puns?" Caroline snarked, her own way of saying thank you.

"Don't you know it, gorgeous."

You're welcome.

"Then I'll go. God, why couldn't you have called an hour ago? Now I'm gonna have to find something to wear," the vampire groused, but Enzo had already hung up the phone.

---

Elijah knew where Esther was taking him, knew that she'd pick this moment in order to hurt him most, drawn to the pain dropping from it, how the memory stood out like a fiery silhouette against the darkened sky of his mind, shimmering with raw, unbridled anguish.

The day of Elena's funeral. It wasn't just for her, it was also for Bonnie Bennett, as well...but he'd always think of it as hers.

Since no supernatural creature could now step foot within the borders of Mystic Falls, it was decided that it would be held at the Gilbert family Lake house, so that everyone she loved could be there, together. At that point, she'd only been gone two weeks, all of her friends scattering like dandelion seeds to various corners of the country. A few had reached out to him, out of courtesy to their departed friend more than a general regard for his well-being, and while Elijah had appreciated the diplomacy of their gestures...it did not make him feel any better, any less bitter or broken. It had been so long since he'd buried a love, so long since he'd allowed himself to connect enough, to care enough, to be at their funeral. A part of him hadn't wanted to go to hers, had wanted to stay in New Orleans, hoping if he got his hands dirty enough, if he buried himself in trying to regain their fallen city for Hope, that he could bury the pain, too.

But it was like the sun, his pain: everywhere, all around, all-encompassing, making everything look darker, shrouded in shadow. A light really had gone out when Elena had...died.

Elijah knew what was coming, knew the events that would unfold, but he was powerless to stop them. So he deployed the one weapon that had never failed him: his words. Turning to the version of his mother beside him -in her own form, rather than this one she had 'borrowed'- Elijah asked her, almost casually, "Is this how you plan to torture me? Unearthing my most painful memories and playing them out for me? It's not particularly creative, I must say, especially for you."

Her face was immovable, carved of hard marble by an unforgiving hand. "Nice try, Elijah. Your efforts are commendable, but you cannot stay my hand. I intend to watch this, to make you see the truth of yourself, the one you have been running from for over a thousand years."

Hands in his pockets, Elijah planted his feet in the swaying grass, looking her over with an inscrutable expression Elena had often dubbed his 'mask.' She'd once said that he was the more precarious opening, because Klaus so clearly displayed what he was thinking and feeling, but not Elijah: he could put a wall up, one that no one had any hope of climbing, one they had to be invited over.

Elijah couldn't help but think that he'd learnt it from Esther. "You mean the fact that you no longer feel any kind of affection towards your own family? The fact that you ruined us as much as Father did, that you were just more careful with your punishments? I hate to disillusion you, Mother -actually, I really don't- but I've known that particular fact for longer than you could imagine."

"Still with the insults, I see. Tell me, how did they serve you on this particular day?" she goaded him, gesturing to the unfolding scene around them. Cars pulling up. Crying. So many tears on so many faces, glistening like the diamonds in Elena's engagement ring. He'd never gotten the chance to tell her the story, about how he'd gone to Davina the night before Elena left, had asked her to make it, using a sliver of lapis from his own ring to craft the stone, so that he'd be with her, always and forever. Davina had called him a big romantic softie. He'd let her, because it was true.

Oh, to be happy in love. To be happy.

"Not well, I'd expect. Shall I remind you?"

Esther snapped her fingers, and suddenly he wasn't just observing the memory, he was inside it, as if he was reliving it all over again. That cold, manipulative bit-

"Elijah," Caroline Forbes smiles, the first to come up and embrace him, pointed heels crunching over the gravel of the driveway. "I'm so, so sorry. I know I've called and everything, and I know the last thing you probably want is everyone telling you how sorry they are -Elena always hated that, after her parents died..."

"It's alright...Caroline." It is as strange to hear it now as it had been to say it then. "In a situation such as this, there isn't much else you can say."

"No, no I suppose not," she admits, blonde hair pulled back from her face, frozen features looking far older than her seventeen years. Straightening up, her blue eyes meet his, morphing back into her renownedly controlled persona. "Look, today is gonna be tough, for all of us, and it's most likely that Damon is gonna turn up drunk, or do something stupid, or both. Most likely both. So just...go easy on him, okay? I know it's hard, but he lost her, too. He never got a chance to say goodbye, or to even apologize. I hate to cut him any kind of slack, but we both know that it's what Elena would want us to do. She'd say that in bad times, that's when we need the people we love most, and to push them away when you're hurting and they're hurting too just makes no sense."

"Yes," Elijah agrees, drawing his handkerchief from his breast pocket and offering it to her. "Yes, that sounds very much like her."

Now, in hindsight, Elijah knew that he should have paid more attention to Caroline's warning, but at the time he'd been too focused on trying not to cry himself, of being in the house, this house where he'd watch her make such a gamble, had played him like a well-honed, transparent instrument when he hadn't even realized there was anything to see. She'd stabbed herself, knowing he'd heal her, that he'd be so out of his mind that he'd agree to anything. Anything. She could have asked for the moon and stars, and he'd have gotten them, so long as she was still breathing.

And he felt that pain as he walked over the threshold, all over again. While Jeremy Gilbert's name was on the lease, he had died since then, and therefore it was a grey area; they'd had more important things on their minds than family cabins as of late. It made Elijah smile, just the tiniest bit, at the irony of it all. Of all these vampires -eight, including two hybrids- here in the home of the Gilbert's, so notorious for their hatred of all those they deemed unnatural. Elena would have laughed. After everything she'd uncovered about the Augustine project, in particular her father's involvement in it, he knew she'd grappled with the upturning of her identity, the shifting of all she'd known. Elijah knew, from personal experience, how hard it was to learn that those you'd loved deeply all your life, who's raised you, were not perfect, that they had sides to them you'd never known.

However, Elijah was certain that wherever Miranda and Grayson Gilbert now where, they still loved their daughter. Unlike his own parents.

Alaric was the next to come up to him, offering a friendly handshake and a pat on the shoulder. He could only imagine the guilt he was feeling, finally being brought back from the Other Side but knowing he would have to live without his step daughter, adding on being a newly-turned vampire. But that was the cruelty of life; sometimes it threw you everything at once and yet still expected you to deal with it all with grace and a smile.

Today, Elijah could conjure neither.

Which is why he got into a fight with Damon. But that came later.

The elder Salvatore was the last to arrive -even over Lorenzo St John, who'd hardly even known her, who was only there because he'd cared for Miss Bennett, as everyone knew- but Damon...

He showed up an hour late. He showed up drunk.

Elijah had seen Niklaus in various states of intoxication over the centuries, some more scandalous or amusing than others, depending on the situation, but the Original was surprised the other vampire was still upright, given the fact that he smelled like he'd been swimming in an industrial-sized vat of Bourbon. God, did the man have no shame? Mercifully, he was dressed in a suit, but his tie was crooked and he needed a shave. Elena would be so disappointed, so bereft of this man she'd once called a friend, seeing how lost he'd become.

Elijah wasn't. Elijah was just angry.

"Easy, brother," Niklaus warns him, a forceful grip encircling his forearm. "Don't do anything rash. This is a day you do not wish to screw up, believe me."

Nodding, he shook off his grip easily. "I'm well aware of that, Niklaus. Besides, doing something rash is your forte, not mine."

"True," he acknowledges shamelessly, blue eyes snagging on something across the room. Davina Claire, talking to Jeremy Gilbert, the two teenagers gravitating towards each other, finding common ground in their similar ages, in being brought into all this supernatural chaos too young.

"Seems Davina's made a friend."

"Yes," Elijah says, "she cared for Elena a great deal."

Klaus shrugs, sipping on his glass of wine. "She was easy to like."

Elijah's eyebrows raise so far they're in danger of getting lost in his hair. "You despised her. You taunted and tortured and manipulated her at every turn. You killed her aunt and hurt her friends and-"

"And I liked her. She had spine, and not the kind I like to tear out. She stood up to me, Elijah," he says as if that's explanation enough. "She walked to death at my hands with her head held high. Can you count how many others have done that?"

None. Everyone is afraid of Klaus Mikaelson; it's how he likes it. Everyone except...

"Klaus."

Both Mikaelsons turn at her familiar voice, at the brown hair and the angular face and the eyes that seem perpetually red. Hayley.

His brother had debated at length on whether or not she should come. But she'd needed it, she'd said. Needed to be out of New Orleans, even if it was just for one day. Even if it was for this, the funeral of her friend. She looks beautiful in her black dress, but haunted, like she herself is a ghost, lost some vital part of herself.

She has. Her daughter.

And so has Klaus. He can see it in the way he puts an arm around her waist, places a swift kiss to her temple that Elijah doubts anyone but an Original would pick up.

"Ty's been looking like he's gonna crap his pants if I so much as breath on him for the last five minutes, so I wanted to see what you were up to instead."

"Much more fun," Klaus agrees with a teasing, albeit genuine smile.

"Is that Damon Salvatore I spotted drinking alone in the corner? I thought he and Stefan were kinda attached at the hip."

"I'm not sure," Elijah says honestly, sweeping the room. Caroline's in the kitchen, making drinks like no one knows how to open a bottle of wine. Tyler and Matthew are on the couch, talking quietly. Alaric has joined in the conversation with Davina and Jeremy, Lorenzo is moving to help Caroline and...

Elijah hears a noise upstairs. The creaking of floorboards. Before he knows it's, he's up the stairs, pausing when he catches sight of Stefan, on the floor by Elena's bed, tears drying on his face. It's okay; more soon replace it.

Stefan is a martyr, of that Elijah has always known. He knew it from the moment they met, when he stormed the proverbial castle to rescue his fair maiden, even though she'd never been in any danger from him. He'll do anything for anyone he loves, but he can't bear it when they do the same for him.

He will save people from sacrifice, yet can't manage the pain of being left alive. Of being saved himself.

"Elena used to love it here," Stefan says, voice a dark, desolate monotone, a seam held by disintegrating threads. "She showed me every room, went through every happy memory with me. Like how Jeremy jumped off the edge of the dock when he was-"

"Seven," Elijah cuts in, watching as Stefan flinches. He is not the only one who knows those things, not the only one she told her stories to. They had their own stories, just as Elijah knows the same applies with Stefan. He's not jealous of it. Not then, and not now, reliving it all. He just wishes he knew what to say, the right thing. He can comfort his own family without trouble, but others? It's never been his strong suit, despite his proclivity for words, spoken and written.

Taking in the purple wallpaper, the perfume bottle on the dresser that Elijah knows wasn't Elena's, but her mother's, he thinks about what his dearest Elena would say, would want him to say.

She could never turn away from someone in pain; she'd want him to be there when she can't do it herself.

"Stefan, I-"

"There's no need," the vampire replies instantly, getting to his feet, swiping a hand across his face like his tears burn him, stronger than any vervain. "Don't worry about it. I was just thinking out loud. There's no need to say or do anything."

"Do you really think so?" Elijah presses him, taking a seat on the old mattress, springs creaking like winter trees. "Do you really want me to leave you be? Like this?"

Stefan shakes his head. "Damon's too angry to talk about her. We moved to Portland. I got a job, but Damon...he just drinks all day. Won't even let me say her name. And I want to talk about her, you know? I wanna keep her alive like that. She deserves that, deserves to be more than pages in my journals or memories in my head. But when I try, he leaves, or punches me. Or both. Years ago, at the start of all this, when Damon came back to Mystic Falls and found out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb...I'd never seen him so sad, not even when our mother died. This...this is some other level of grief that I can't even comprehend. And we were starting to patch it all up. Elena had made her choice, and it wasn't one of us, but that kinda united us, you know? I feel like all I ever do is miss my brother...and now he's here, but not here. Worst of all, I think he blames me, just a little. I think he'd prefer it if I'd been the one to go, and not her. And I'm not sure he's wrong."

"No." Even Elijah, even he knows that isn't true. "Damon is your brother, Stefan. He loves you, and always will. He would do anything to ensure you remained safe, and alive."

Stefan chuckles, a wet rasping sound rattling in his chest like something had been knocked loose inside him, unlocked. "You see, that's where you're wrong. He'd do anything for Elena," he corrects him, without bitterness. "He's said so himself a million times. We always agreed on it: nothing happens to Elena. If one of us dies, so be it. Doesn't matter, so long as she's still breathing. He told her that he'd have rather let Matt Donovan die that night on the bridge so that she didn't turn. He would have walked through fire if she'd asked him to. He's gotten bitten by werewolves and tried to kill Originals and piss off ghosts because he can't live if she's not okay. And now she's gone. She's dead and...and so is he. Really, truly dead."

"Oh, and I'm a walking rainbow, am I?" Elijah can't help but snarl, control slipping it's carefully-crafted reigns. "I'm perfectly alright since the love of my life, my fiancé, the woman I was going to marry and spend the rest of my eternity with, who made me happy for the first time in a thousand years, who sacrificed her life for you? Tell your brother to grow the hell up, Mr Salvatore: he isn't the only person mourning Elena Gilbert," he says, and shuts the door on his startled face.

"Working out some issues there?"

Elijah spins on his heel, exhaling guilty at Camille's arched brow. He scrubs a tired hand over his face, like that can somehow expunge his outburst. "Something like that."

"You want a drink after all that?"

"Desperately."

The services are beautiful. Flowers and candles -he's sure he sees Davina casting a spell, no doubt to preserve their flame- out on the dock, summer breeze rippling the water. Everyone speaks, except Damon, not that anyone probably assumed otherwise, and a stone is set into the grass, an identical one soon to be laid in New Orleans.

Elena Marie Gilbert

Loved by all. A kind and giving soul. May she rest in peace.

Bonnie's will be taken to Mystic Falls, buried with her family. But there is no more room in the Gilbert plot, everyone knows.

She was no longer a Gilbert. She died a Mikaelson. She died his.

Damon waits until everyone has turned away, the two of them alone in the grass and the fading light. Elijah doesn't flinch, doesn't acknowledge the other vampire's presence in any way, he just keeps staring at that stone, grief spider-webbing through his veins, a tangible, visceral thing that has ensnared every part of him.

"What are you even doing here?" the Salvatore says to him as if they're already in the middle of a conversation. "It's not like you loved her or anything."

Elijah turns, incrementally, not even giving him the courtesy of his full gaze. "That's where you're wrong, Damon. I loved her. Very, very much."

"That's bullshit. Complete and utter crap. You were dating for, what? A month? I've loved Elena for years. What we had was special, and real. You didn't know her like I did, like Stefan did. You're just some idiot, entitled prick who thinks he can have whatever he wants and was still in love with Katherine so you settled on the next best thing-"

Elijah can't remember the last time he punched someone in the face; he doesn't usually bother. However, he seems to do just fine, if the crunching of Damon Salvatore's nose as it shatters is anything to go by.

But Damon's grinning like that was exactly what he wanted, like he's proven he's better because Elijah was the one to swing first. Pathetic.

"How dare you," he murmurs, deadly soft, rage burning up from deep below him. The rage he always feels, but fights so hard to not let show. Elijah Mikaelson has always been angry: angry at the world, at his parents, at himself for not changing and at Klaus for changing too much and...

And Damon just happens to be on the receiving end of it.

"How dare you! I loved Elena! I will love her until I am no more, and it doesn't matter if we only had a day, or a lifetime. I knew her. I knew every part of her, and I loved them all. I appreciated her, never tried to take away her right to make her own decisions, unlike you."

He tries to defend himself. "I didn't mean to, the sire bond-"

"Fuck the sire bond. I know everything you tried to do to her. Trying to compel her to kiss you, for starters. Lashing out at her family when she wouldn't be with you. You killed her brother right in front of her. If anyone was using her as a replacement for Katerina, it was you, not I, which is almost inconceivable to me considering the fact that she was a manipulative, self-centered woman who only loved me when it suited her or she was having an attack of consciousness and didn't want to admit she'd driven everyone in her life away. How is that anything like Elena? Elena was lovely, and courageous, and vicious to protect her own. She saw the good in everyone, and fought for it when they couldn't see it themselves. She never left anyone in need, put herself on the line time and time again because she believed it was right. She had to watch as almost everyone she loved died, but it didn't make her closed-off, or bitter. She was the most amazing soul I ever encountered; why wouldn't I love her?"

Damon rolls his eyes, despite the fact that he himself has talked about Elena like that in the past, like he hadn't and still does feel that way about her. Maybe he just can't handle it coming from someone else. "Well, if she was so wonderful, why didn't you marry her?" He probably means it sarcastically, another jibe, another thorn at which to scratch at him, hoping to draw blood.

But it only draws the truth from Elijah. "I was planning to."

The vampire goes very, very still, then explodes in a flurry of action and indignation. "What? How? What? Elena never would have-"

"Married me?"

"Been a Mikaelson," Damon clarifies acerbically, mouth pursed like even the very name is something to be reviled. "She hates your family. Your brother killed Jenna. Rebekah's the reason she became a vampire. Your mother is the reason Ric's gone. You double-crossed us more than once..."

"And how is that anything different from what you've done, the damage you caused her, barging into her life as you did?" Elijah smirks, hard and brittle. "At least we had the decency to knock."

Damon's fist swings out, attempting to connect with Elijah's jaw. He dodges it easily, his own arm shooting out to flip Damon onto his back, pinning him in the grass.

The Salvatore doesn't lose that unwavering edge, just smiles up at him and spits out a mouthful of blood onto Elijah's shoes. Bastard. Elena bought him those. Hauling him up by his shirt, Elijah punches him. Again. And again and again and again, and then he feels an arm go around his shoulders, knuckles scattered with a familiar constellation of plaint flecks, restraining him as Stefan catches his brother, face abnormally pale as he asks, "What did you do?"

Damon glares at him, eyes twin blue flames of seething hatred. "What I had to."

Like lightning, a body puts itself in the line of fire, shoving Stefan out of the way. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Jeremy yells, face inches away from Damon. He's almost as tall as him now. "This is my sister's funeral. Hers, and Bonnie's, her best friend, our friend. Is this really how you want to pay your respect to her?" He cocks a brow before adding, "Both of you?"

"He hit me first!"

What a child.

"After you insinuated that I didn't love my own fiancé and that she was just like Katerina!" Elijah accuses, the assembled group taking a collective gasp, either at Damon's audacity or the revelation of his proposal, he wasn't sure. "I swear, another word like that and I'll rip you apart myself you deplorable, despicable, indecent and inconsiderate, narcissistic swine-"

Stefan pinched his brow, arms crossed over his chest. "I think he gets the picture, Elijah."

"I'm surprised he still has a head," his brother whispers in his ear, sounding fairly impressed at his restraint. "Want me to do it for you?" Of which Niklaus does not share.

Elijah shakes his head.

"Look, I know this is hard, and most of you can't come home anymore. But if the last three years have taught us anything, it's that nothing lasts forever, not even vampires. Home can't be a place, but people can. People you love, people you trust, who will support you and be there for you, no matter what. Elena was one of those people. Even before all this supernatural stuff came along, she was the best sister a guy could ever ask for. My life won't ever be the same now that she's not in it, and neither will yours. But we've all we have left now, and that means something. I know it would have meant a lot to Elena, and to Bonnie. So, please, stop all of this," Jeremy implores them, so very much like his sister that it makes Elijah ache. "Be better than this. If not for yourselves, do it for them, so that they didn't die in vain."

"You're right," the Original agrees, crossing the small distance between them, grass swaying by his feet as he offers his hand. "My apologies."

Jeremy takes it, smiling warmly. "It's okay. I like that you defended her. I think I wouldn't have minded having you as my brother in law, either. I just know that she loved you, a lot, and you made her really happy. She wouldn't want you to stoop to his level, even if he did deserve it."

Alaric and Stefan haul him away, and soon it's just Elijah, staring out at the water, depths turning a brilliant shade of gold. It's beautiful, the kind of sight his brother would no doubt appreciate, would commit ho canvas. But not Elijah.

Elijah just wants to forget...

A rushing darkness overcame him, and soon he was back in the crypt, still hanging from shackles, his mother still before him, still smiling like she knows all the answers.

"Hmm," she said, head tilted at an assessing angle. "Truth be told, I expected far worse from you. He insulted your lover at her funeral; not even I would be so cruel."

"We both know that's not true," Elijah rasped, pretending to still retain the upper hand, pretending that her little demonstration hadn't had its desired effect. Now he truly was bleeding, inside and out. He hadn't thought about the funeral for a while, or the days preceding it. How, a week after, a letter came in the mail from UNO, a 'Dear Miss Gilbert, we would be happy to offer you a place at University of New Orleans as part of our fall semester...' And how, on that same day, a box came from Miss Forbes, full of the last of Elena's belongings from her dorm. The former a cruel reminder of the life she would have had -they would have had, together- if she were still here, the latter both a blessing and a curse, a few more things of hers to hold on to, a few more things to drive home the fact that she wasn't there.

How did she do this? It was what Elijah had wondered most, in the months she'd been gone. How did she do this, again and again and again? How did she lose so much, yet still be open to love? How had she found room in her heart for him after all the loss?

He didn't know. And now he'd never get the chance to ask her.

"Think what you will, Elijah. But everything I've done for this family, for you, I did to protect you."

"From what?" the Original couldn't help but wonder, pulling on his chains in frustration. Why must everything always be a riddle with her?

"From yourselves," was what she said.

---

As soon as Klaus hears the words, 'Something's happened to Elijah," the whole world seems to narrow, to focus in on those four words. The blood and bodies around him become distant, inconsequential, and dread pounds through him the likes of which he hadn't felt since the night of Hope's birth, an all-encompassing worry for those he cares most deeply for.

"Tell me what happened," he insists to Hayley, mind already trying to form some sort of plan. Mikael had the White Oak -Tunde's blade was a mere afterthought. Mikael had Camille, and to lose either one is unimaginable. But the thought of losing his brother...he can't even go near it, in fear of crumbling. Not Elijah. Gods, why couldn't he keep everyone he loved in one place, safe? As horrible as it was, at least when they were daggered he didn't have to feel like this, this crippling fear because he couldn't control everything, couldn't predict every move on the board no matter how he boasts to the contrary and...

"*He was supposed to be our decoy last night, and now he's vanished. There's blood everywhere- werewolf and vampire. There's a trail. I need you to help us track it."

"I wish I could love," he replied honestly, kicking one of those compelled party goers in the head after he tried to crawl towards him, "but I'm a bit busy trying to ensure our families continued survival, as that of Camille's."

"What about Cami?" Klaus heard Marcel -Marcel?- demand in the background, eliciting an incredulous laugh from the Hybrid. "You went to Marcel about my missing brother before coming to me?"

Yes, he was otherwise occupied, but it still stung. Not to mention the fact that werewolves and vampires aren't supposed to be fraternizing.

"He helped me get those kids out last night, Klaus. And so did Ollie, but I haven't heard from him either. Marcel helped me put the pieces together. If what you're doing is really that important, I'll do this by myself."

Oh, his little wolf, always dangling herself in the jaws of danger. Klaus could only pray that Hope didn't develop a similar trait when she got older.

"No," he shook his head, kicking another body out of his way. "You won't do this alone. Mikael isn't involved in this -its not his style, and Elijah is one of the few of hours our father can mildly tolerate- but that doesn't mean this is over wolves, Hayley. This could be about us. Esther has been laying low, and this would be the perfect time to strike..."

"Don't you think I know that?" Hayley sighed over the roar of an engine. "I'm not stupid, Klaus."

"I know," he smiled, although of course she couldn't see it. "That's why I've never called you such."

"It's decided then. I'll deal with my thing, you'll deal with yours, and hopefully by the end of the day no one we love will be dead or dying or kidnapped. Sound good?"

"Absolutely marvelous." He wanted to tell her about Kol, but he seemed quite attached to the young Miss Claire, who Marcel loved like a daughter and therefore wouldn't be too pleased over their... whatever they were. Not wanting to lose another brother -not Kol, not again, not when he could tell he wasn't really on Esther's side- he decided to wait until another time, preferably without a background audience.

"Great. Just...stay safe, okay? That thing is the only weapon that could kill you. And I meant what I said last time." I don't intend to raise our baby girl without you. The idea was still alive, held between them as tenderly as they'd held their beloved daughter. She will come home. All of this, it was just another step to get there.

"Only if you do the same, Hayley," Klaus replied, before going off to kill his father. Again.

---

The drive to Mystic Falls was relatively short, since Elena knew the roads like the back of her hand, like the crinkles around Elijah's eyes when he smiled. Pulling the Impala into the driveway of Sheila Bennett house, Elena got out of the car, head tipped back to appreciate the blazing sunshine, the world a shining sepia-tinged blue behind her sunglasses. Hauling her bags from the trunk, she listened to the sounds inside, the tell-tale thump of heartbeats.

There was only one, as instantly familiar as her own.

Rushing inside, Elena used her vamp-speed to tackle Bonnie in an enormous hug, arms going around her so tightly the witch staggered a step backwards.

"You should go away more often if this is the kind of homecoming I'm gonna get," Bonnie teased, pulling back slightly to survey her with a critical expression. Pausing for a minute, she said softly, "You look good, 'Lena. Less of the crazy eyes, more of the calm."

Elena couldn't deny it, so she simply wrapped her best friend in another hug. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine," Bonnie exclaimed, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. "I've told you that on the phone like every day."

"Ah, but that's different, since on the phone you can lie and convince yourself that I don't know since I can't see your face," Elena reasoned, following the witch into the kitchen, hopping up onto one of the barstools. "Here, there's no hiding. Has Kai been giving you any more trouble? Because if he has, then say the word and I'll do...something. I'm not sure what, but I'm good at thinking on my feet," she proclaimed, dangling her black Chuck Taylors for emphasis.

"I know, but he's the only one who knows this spell, so we kinda need him," Bonnie countered, opening the fridge and getting out some orange juice, only to realize the carton was empty. Sighing, she lobbed it into the trash, watching as it half-heartedly bounced against the rim.

She raised a finger at Elena. "Not a word."

Elena nodded solemnly, clamping down on her amusement. "Where is Kai, anyway? I thought he'd be lurking behind a corner eating something weird or just...being weird in general."

"He said he needed some 'supplies' from town," Bonnie frowned, putting a dubious pair of air quotes around the word. "Or maybe he knew you were coming back today and didn't want to get his face smashed in. I'm assuming you're still pissed at him for that vervain stunt, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Same. God, I can't wait to go home. I can't wait for real food, and clothes, and Starbucks-"

"Not to mention more important things like, you know, all our family and friends who think we're currently dead," Elena chimed in, chuckling lightly at Bonnie's ensuing guilty frown.

"Right, of course. It's just, with you gone...it was harder to think about them, you know? For you, it's what kept you going, but for me...it was too hard. It was almost easier to think that I was never going to get out of here, rather than spend all my energy holding on to hope," Bonnie admitted, eyes trained on the floor, unable to meet her gaze.

"Hey," the brunette chided her, slipping down from her perch and taking the witch's hands in hers, squeezing reassuringly. "It's okay. It is hard to hold on to hope," she acknowledged, thinking of all the hard times in her life, when she'd thought this was it, that she was going to die, or someone she loved was. "All that matters is that we are going home today, alright? Kai will show you the spell, the eclipse will rise overhead and we can try to move on from all this. Of course, it won't be easy, since we can't stay in Mystic Falls, but I promise I'll be there to help you, in whatever way you need, okay? You can stay in New Orleans with me if you want or maybe with Enzo..."

Bonnie perked up at, a small smile gracing her face. "That sounds nice. Really nice. He and I never got the chance to..."

"I know. But you will now. So, let's go find Kai."

The pair didn't have to look far, considering the fact that he was sitting in the living room, Elena's bag in his lap. "Hey, cool keychain," he said, fiddling with the little Trolls figurine she'd attached to the zipper. "My sister was always more a *Cabbage Patch girl, but I like these; everyone loves some crazy hair."

"Or crazy everything," Bonnie muttered under her breath.

"Wow, that was mean. I didn't know you could be mean." Kai tipped his head, a wicked grin on his face as he remarked, "I kinda like it. All kittens should have claws."

"And all village idiots should be amusing," Elena retorted, making her way towards the couch and snatching her bag from Kai's clutches, slinging it over her own shoulder, "but unfortunately you're not entertaining either of us. So, quit screwing around and give Bonnie the spell, why don't you, so we can all go home. You still want that, don't you?" Her voice dropped to a low purr, honeyed and persuasive, the kind of tone Katherine had often deployed. She hated it, but she was sick of all this. She had people waiting for her, and well...Kai kind of deserved it, if only because he'd annoyed Bonnie and left crumbs in Elena's bed.

"Yes, I do. It's why I got some keepsakes to take with me to this exciting new land of yours. It sounds like a real hoot."

Elena and Bonnie rolled their eyes.

Kai held up his hands in supplication. "Fine, fine! God, does no one know how to laugh in the future? Is it, like, illegal or something? Cause if it is, I'm gonna get arrested for all of my incredibly witty puns, and the world will be incredibly sad."

"I'm sure it will survive. Now, is there anywhere in particular we need to do this or-"

"The woods," Kai immediately interrupted Bonnie, getting to his feet and heading out the door, leaving the pair of them to trail after as he explained, "You guys can't be in Mystic Falls since the freaky Travelers did their mojo, right? Which means I can't be there either. Ergo, we need to be outside the town lines. Any suggestions?"

Elena had one. "The tunnels. They all lead out of Mystic Falls, most near the cemetery which is out of the town border. All we need to do is pick one."

"Excellent." From the depths of his bag, Kai produced an ax, red and dangerously sharp, vaguely resembling the fire ax they kept at Mystic Falls High. He tossed it in her general direction, and Elena narrowly avoided chopping her fingers off. Jerk. "You're in charge of digging. I'm too pretty to get dirty and Bonnie...well, she's too pretty as well."

"Go creep someone else out, why don't you?" Bonnie scowled, leaves crunching angrily under her boots as seh stormed ahead.

"I can't!" Kai called out to her retreating back. "That's the whole point!"

"You should really be more respectful to her," Elena commented, twirling her ax in her palm, a smirk the likes of which Klaus would have been very proud of -or annoyed she'd borrowed- curving her lip.

Kai gulped cartoonishly.

"She's the one that's gonna get you home. And as soon as she does, you find some town a million miles away from her, you understand? Bonnie's a good person, the best there is, and she doesn't deserve to be a part of whatever ulterior agenda you've got going on. Are we clear?"

"As Mountain Dew."

"Good."

---

Elijah was usually able to tell the passage of time easily, a skill he'd had since his days as a boy, out on hunts with his father. But now, he couldn't quite grasp the passage of the hours, what was real and what was Esther, playing tricks with his mind, playing in his mind, rootling around in his subconscious like it was a sock drawer, and she a teenager looking for loose change. It was most disturbing. Of course, he never let any of it show, kept testing the chains anchoring him to the wall, trying to take in as many details about his surroundings as possible, cataloging potential weapons, possible exit strategies.

This was not the first time he'd been kidnapped, and it likely wouldn't be the last. He would get through this, as he had everything else. He simply had to be patient.

"How are you enjoying your stay, my son? Any complaints so far?" Esther taunted him, returning from wherever she'd been, hands folded demurely in front of her.

Elijah shrugged, shackles clanking as he hummed noncommittally. "The vibe, as the young people say these days, is not particularly unpleasant, although I cannot say the same for the current company, or the chains. Not very civilized. Neither is the fact that you have not told me your purpose for abducting me, instead wasting my time with ridiculous accusations about past loves from a thousand years ago, another lifetime ago."

"It's simple," his mother said, stepping into a thickening patch of candlelight, nail catching him under his chin, tilting his face closer to hers. "I want you to rejoin our family, but as a witch. I want you to leave behind the grotesque savage vampirism has made of you, my once lovely boy. Take the body of a mortal, and we can all be happy again. Start over."

A beat of silence passed. And another. And another. Then... "You do know you're entirely demented, don't you?" Elijah couldn't help but ask, shirking off her touch like it physically pained him. "As if I would ever agree to that. Me, or Niklaus. As if we would ever want any part in your so-called *family, not after everything you've done to us."

Parents were supposed to protect their children. Protect them, love them. Esther and Mikael had never done either, or if they had, ot was not the kind of love Elijah could ever hope to understand. He thought again of his dream, of the daughter he would never have, the love he'd felt, even if it was only on his mind...that was not what Esther was offering.

And it was not something he'd ever accept.

"It's true," Esther conceded, something akin to shame creeping over her features, "I perhaps have not acted as a mother should, but can you blame me for it? I had to watch, for a thousand years, the damage you and your siblings inflicted upon the world, upending the balance of nature so irrevocably. I could not even begin to count how many bodies you have left in your wake, some in the name of your sacred vows, most in order to satiate your endless, despicable hunger. A hunger that cost your poor Tatia her life."

This was getting ridiculous. "I did nothing but love that woman until the day you took her life," Elijah insisted, letting his anger bleed out on his blackened eyes, "and that is all there is to know. You've said what you wanted, I rejected it. Now, let me go."

"No," Esther snarled, and for an instant she sounded just like the mother he remembered, telling him and his siblings off for some slight or other, the way she was when a spell went wrong, or when she tried to bring Henrik back, and failed. "If I cannot make you believe my words, I shall just have to show you."

Her hands came up to cradle either side of his face, fingertips digging in painfully at his temples, as she began to chant.

Suddenly, he wasn't in the cemetery.

There was a long corridor. A red door. A white dress. A woman running, brown hair flowing behind her like a banner. For a second, he thought of Elena, but no, her hair had never been that long, she'd never braided it like that, Elena was just ever so slightly taller...Tatia. It was Tatia, running for her life. Running from him. Because that was him, stalking down the hallway, predator pursuing prey, catching her against his chest and sinking his fangs into her flesh as she screamed, and screamed, and screamed...

Elijah's eyes flew open, breathing haggard, hunger returning tenfold at even the idea of blood.

"That's not real. That didn't happen."

"Not like that, no. But you did kill her, Elijah. You did, and I've kept your secret for a thousand years. Even from you."

The word was little more than a breath. "Why?"

"Why else? Because you asked me to."

Esther dived into his head once more, a film playing out behind his closed lids. Samhain. The dance. Loki the pig. The kiss. And then...the night after the full moon. Niklaus, waking up in the woods, realizing that he had murdered six people, had turned into a beast...and his siblings had not. Because Mikael was not his father. Elijah assuring him it changed nothing. Tatia coming upon them, taking in the carnage and blood, and bolting like a hunted animal, so afraid of him...

"I fail to see your point, here," Elijah said, taking on a disaffected air. "I compelled Tatia to forget what she saw, and she did."

"You'd only been a vampire for a few days. You hadn't yet learned compulsion," Esther insisted, watching on as he just shook his head.

"No. No. I remember that. Clearly."

It was Esther's turn to shake her head, like she pitied him, and how hard he was trying to deny the logic she was presenting him with. "Do you? Is that what really happened? You, a newly turned vampire, compelling someone on the first try, when you did not even know you possessed the ability to do so?"

Another memory came to him then, a year later. The Martel's, and Lucien. The courtyard, compelling them to take their place, decoys for their father...

"You thought there were still lines you wouldn't cross, people you wouldn't hurt," Esther continued on, oblivious to his unraveling sanity. "Things you wouldn't do. But, you're wrong. That is what I'm here to show you."

Elijah just kept shaking his head. No. Think of something else. Anything else. Paris at night. The pyramids. Kew Gardens in the summer. The time Niklaus compelled a circus to follow him around. Elena. The first time he met her, the lavender of her sweater, covered in blood -he'd never learnt why, he was sure it probably had something to do with how Katerina got in that tomb...

Katerina. Tatia. Tatia running. Tatia dancing. Tatia saying his name, bringing his face towards hers to kiss him. Tatia, screaming his name as she turned away from him like the sight of him was something demonic, monstrous, evil.

"Do you remember it now, my sweet boy? No more hiding. You must face this."

Tears streamed down his cheeks, making tracks in the blood and grime. "You didn't want to hurt her. You loved her," his mother defended as if the sight of his tears brought out that long-buried maternal instinct. "But you could not stop yourself. You could not deny the monster, the monster *I had turned you into. And it wanted her as much as you did. Your sweet Tatia, the girl I thought I might one day call daughter. The beautiful butterfly, wings snapped under your too-sharp teeth, lifeblood on your hands. Dead and dry, drained of all that vibrant colour you loved so much, and so fiercely."

"I did," Elijah sobbed, overwhelmed with grief old and new. "I did love her. I never would have done such a thing. You're distorting my memories! It was you who killed Tatia! And I won't let you use her memory to try and convince me to join you in some pathetic farce-"

"Oh, I used her blood to bind the spell that suppressed Niklaus' werewolf aspect," Esther interrupted him, readily admitting to the crime against her child as if it didn't matter, as if it was not something to be ashamed of, as if Niklaus had not agonized over it century after century, stopping at nothing to break it. "But, by the time you brought her to me, she was already dead."

Elijah looked at his mother, horror sluicing through him. Was there something? Some part of him, an inkling, a forgotten thought...? There was nothing. He didn't kill her, didn't kill someone he loved. "You can't rewrite history!" Elijah exclaimed, growing more and more impatient, more and more hungry, her voice seeming to grate on every single nerve.

"No, I cannot, even that is beyond my ability. So I did not. Not until I had your consent, anyway." As if that's anything to be proud of. "Until you came to me, begged me on your hands and knees to save her, to bring back your beloved. But I could not do that either, as I had not been able to do with Henrik, since the spirits said I would have to give up one of my other children to do so, or myself. And I couldn't leave you at the hands of your father. So I took her body, and told you to clean yourself up. That if you were clean, if no trace of your deeds remained, it did not happen, and you could purge it from your mind.

"But you needed somewhere to put it," Esther continued, taking a seat on the edge of the stone table, like the effort of telling the truth was taxing on her. "Somewhere to hide all of you sin, the body, broken at your hand, the hand of a monster. And so the red door was born. Yet it was not meant to hold so much, so much evil, a thousands lifetimes worth. It was ready to burst, and so I've just...nudged it along. It will come back to you, my Elijah. Soon, you shall remember it all. That, under your fancy suits and your mask of civility, you are exactly the same as your siblings, or worse, since they do not hide the fact that they are not human, and do not care. They didn't fall in love with an eighteen year old girl and pretend to give her everything she could ever want."

Elijah said nothing for a moment, but then..."Elena was nineteen when she died. Her birthday was three months ago. She would have been twenty."

His mother acted as if she hadn't heard. "How long would it have taken before she ended up behind that door? Before she realized what an abomination you are, and ran back to her beloved Salvatores? They were always fighting over her, if I recall, back and forth and back and forth. Just like you and Niklaus. Who knows, maybe he would have taken a liking to her, as he did to Tatia..."

Elijah stepped forward as much as he was able, chains digging in to the flesh of his forearms, the skin of his palms, marking and healing in the blink of an eye. "Let me make something clear to you. Whatever happened to Tatia," -for he could admit that he now had doubts- "I would never, not in a thousand, or a million, or a trillion years, ever have hurt Elena. She was, and still is the love of my life. I had just turned, I didn't know my limits. But I do now. Speaking of...this conversation is over. I grow bored at the sound of your voice."

A palm whipped out, stinging across his cheek. "You forget your place, Elijah. I may not wear my own face, but I am still your mother, and you shall treat me with respect. After all, a mother knows what's best for her child. What I'm offering you, it's what you need. You could fall in love again, have children of your own. You cared for Hayley, didn't you? You could replace the child that she lost..."

Elijah shook his head tiredly. "No child can be replaced. I thought you knew that better than anyone, after the death of my dear sister."

Esther flinched, shying away from him, expression shuttering. Interesting.

"And yet I had many more after whom I loved just as much. You will take my offer, Elijah, for it is the only way."

"The only way what?"

"That you'll make it out of here alive."

---

"Go to the Corn Maze, he said. Be a teenager, he said. It'll be fun, he said. Yeah, well, he forgot to mention the part where my ex boyfriend crashes his car and almost kills a bunch of people," Caroline groused as she bit into her wrist yet again, healing yet another innocent bystander who had just wanted to have a good, spooky time. But, seriously, what else should she have expected, given their track record with Halloween. Hello, anyone remember Vicki Donovan? Sure, she hadn't been in the loop at that point, but that didn't change the fact that vampires and Halloween were 'non-mixy things', in the wisely profound words of Buffy Anne Summers.

She should have stayed in her dorm. Should have stayed in, done some research, made some microwave popcorn and watched some silly slasher with her mom over Skype. That would have been nice. Really nice. At the very least, one of her best beaded tops wouldn't be covered in blood, and she wouldn't have to be dodging some pre-med kid who had tried to help her save some girl dressed as some ghost from some story in Ric's class who had kept going on about pens and grapefruits and hello, we get it, you've watched E.R., good for you.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, The Monkee's 'Daydream Believer,' instantly recognizable: it was the ringtone she'd picked out for Enzo, after she'd caught him singing it once.

"Can't talk. Have lives to save."

"Ah, so you're the one dealing with Stefan's renegade vampire."

"No, dying kids in a maze. Wait, what? Stefan's turned someone? Why?"

"I think it was an accident," Enzo said, voice sounding far louder than it should.

Caroline turned on her heel, still crouched over the healing teen.

"Nice to see you in the flesh, Caroline," Enzo remarked, clearly having just vamp-sped over here, if his wind-swept hair was anything to go by. For a minute, he almost looked like Stefan. Bending down, he picked up the boy effortlessly, eyes taking in their surroundings, likely listening out for signs of injury. "How many others?"

"I'm not sure. But if one of them dies, Tyler becomes a werewolf again," Caroline reminded him, watching as Enzo merely nodded and readjusted his hold. "Then I suppose we better get to work then."

---

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Elena asked Kai for what felt like the millionth time, ax swinging into the dirt at her feet -it was May, everyday, which meant the ground was dry from lack of rain, and it was hard going.

"Have you ever portal-jumped through an eclipse before?" Kai inquired mockingly, beaming at her obvious annoyance.

"Can't say I have, but I'd hardly call you an expert on the subject, either" she fired back, if only to wipe the smirk off his face.

Kai huffed, leaning against a tree. "Yeah, well...just keep digging. I wanna get out of here as much as you do," he said, and wandered off without another word.

"God, that guy gets on my nerves," Elena remarked, taking a particularly big swing at the ground in front of her. Doing this made her think of Elijah, after the night of the Mikaelson ball, how he'd taken her through the woods and told her stories of what the land used to be like when he was a boy. It had been...nice. Calming. Of course, there was that but where he made a hole in the earth with his foot -of which she was really jealous of at that moment- and made her play hostage with Rebekah...but before that, she really had enjoyed herself. He was easy to talk to, even back then.

Unfortunately, that hole had long since closed over, and it wouldn't have existed in this dimension/world anyway, so she'd picked what was vaguely the same spot, if only for the sake of sentimentality. And the fact that she'd know the layout when she got down there, and Kai wouldn't, which would help if he decided to cause trouble. Elena was prepared for everything, and then she immediately wished she hadn't thought that, jinxing herself. Nothing could go wrong. She was going home today, she was, she *was...

"You know there's a very strong chance you're currently digging your own grave, right?" Bonnie said from behind her, a too-stretched smile on her face indicating she was nervous, but trying to hide it with humor.

So Elena played right along.

"True, but this isn't the first time I've been around for one of these. If I really am digging my own grave, I want the record to state that Stefan made it look totally easy to dig one up, which is unfair and gave me unrealistic expectations."

"So noted."

In a blink, Kai came up behind her, chin resting on the shoulder of her band tee as he surveyed the hole. "That should do it. You were very good at that. Watch a lot of Snow White as a kid? You know, with the dwarves who are good at mining, which is pretty much the same thing as digging, just walls. Shame you didn't have a theme song to go with it."

"I was always more of a Little Mermaid girl," she found herself saying, stepping back from the hole and putting on her denim jacket, bag going on over the top.

"Cool. Shall we?"

Kai grinned at them expectedly.

"Umm... aren't you forgetting something? Like the spell? The one I don't know but you supposedly do, the one that's going to get us home?"

Kai just kept on grinning, and Elena felt something in her stomach drop, her heart deflating, the feeling echoed on Bonnie's face.

"There is no spell, is there? There's no fricking spell!"" she cried, angry tears brimming in her eyes as she pushed at his chest, making him stumble up against a tree. "You lied. This was always about my magic! You want my magic for yourself."

Elena could do nothing but stare, frozen and horrified, as Bonnie held out her hands to him. "Then take it. Do the spell yourself. Take my magic. All along, this was your big threat, because even if I did do the spell and let you out of here, you'll just take my magic and leave me for dead, and do it yourself. So do it, I don't care. I just want to go home." And something in her broke, at hearing her best friend so upset, seeing the tears on her face.

Lunging across the hole, Elena banded her arms around her waist, pulling her back, away from Kai.

"Well, since you offered so nicely," he said, reaching out across the distance between them, something so evil and wicked and wrong in his eyes that every sense kicked into high gear, telling her to get Bonnie away from him, now, and Elena acted on pure instinct, pushing Bonnie behind her with one hand and picking up her discarded ax with the other, burying it in his chest in one perfect throw, blade shining in an arc before hitting its target.

Kai looked at it for several seconds, as if confused to how it got there, before falling to his knees, then on to his back, his heart no longer beating.

Dead.

"Come on," Elena urged her, gripping her hand in hers tightly. Bonnie nodded, frozen somewhere between relief and shock. Elena jumped them down into the hole, taking a glance at the sky. "We haven't got much time."

"What kind of prison gives an inmate a key?" Bonnie asked out of nowhere, stilling the brunette in her tracks, and Elena suddenly realized Bonnie wasn't in shock: she was thinking, putting things together that even Elena couldn't see. "After everything we've learnt about the rules of magic, it doesn't seem likely that anh old witch who just happened to get trapped in here with Kai could get him out. But he wanted me, my magic. I think...I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place-"

"Which means that only a Bennett which would be able to get him out," Elena finished for her, thinking back to the fake Sun and Moon curse, how Klaus had needed her blood to break his curse, but also to make more hybrids. It always had to come from the same place, always had to come from family. Like called to like. Blood called to blood.

"Maybe that's why my Grams sent me here, and you. The last thing she said to me was to stay strong. What if that was her way of saying I already have all the power I need to get us out of here? That I don't need some fancy spell. I have everything we need: the Ascendant, a celestial event, and a burning desire to be home that can rival any string of old Latin."

Elena smiled, taking her hands in hers. "Comet, crystal, spell."

"Exactly." Bonnie smiled back. "Kai only wanted me because as a Bennett, I'm his only way out of here." She reached into her pocket, taking out the Ascendant that Kai hadn't been bothered to grab. Using one of the points, she slashed into her wrist, blood dribbling out onto the metal, holding out directly in the light from the hole above as she began to chant.

It clicked open, producing two sharp prongs.

And then, she doubled over in pain, a scream bubbling up out of her throat.

"Bonnie!" Elena yelled, instantly biting into her wrist, only to have Kai yank her backwards by her hair, knee connecting with her stomach.

"Do you really think that I hadn't tried to kill myself before? Because I have. Lots of times, in lots of ways," Kai growled into her ear, and under different circumstances, Elena would have felt for him, would have been understanding, but that was an arrow coming out of Bonnie's back, piercing her stomach, and he was stopping Elena from getting to her, and so she moved, using all her force to hurtle them both backwards into the cave wall, his back connecting with a resounding crack. Scrambling about, Elena used the time to get to Bonnie, but Kai had gotten up quicker than she'd anticipated, reaching for the Ascendant just as she reached Bonnie.

"Get it," Bonnie rasped, voice heavy with pain.

Elena shook her head vehemently, tears dripping down to stain Bonnie's cheeks . "No, I'm saving you first."

And so she did, bringing her bleeding wrist to her mouth as she took a few hasty mouthfuls before pushing her away. "Get the Ascendant."

Elena pivoted, kicking up a whirl of dirt as her fist connected with Kai's cheek, sending him sprawling. He spat, a flash of scarlet coating the floor. "Good swing, girlie girl. But there's no way in hell you're taking this from me."

"Wanna bet?" the vampire challenged, falling back on that false bravado she'd seen both Salvatore brothers deploy, that calm confidence Katherine always exuded, thinking just like Klaus did, like victory was certain.

And it worked.

Kai charged towards her, knocking her to the floor, trying to grab whatever he could, punching wildly. But he was no match for her, a doppelgänger, a vampire in love who wanted to go home. Her arm snaked around his neck, bringing him close, a mockery of a lover's embrace, and buried her fangs into his neck, her own chest rising and falling, heartbeat rapid, diverting Kai's attention to his injury, just as she'd planned.

It was just like when they played Stick In The Mud at kindergarten: Elena was always the distraction, since no one ever expected that she'd be up to anything, that she'd cheat, not good little Elena Gilbert, always giving Bonnie the opportunity to sneak up on people, and win, as she was now, grabbing the Ascendant from Kai's outstretched palm and clasping it in her own.

Bonnie's gaze met hers, and Elena saw it, saw the moment she made up her mind, the finality settling over her, resignation taking its place, the imposter of their hope that they would make it out of this, together.

"One of us should get to go home," was all Bonnie said, Ascendant open in her palm, other hand twisting as she cried out, "Motus," and flung Kai across the cave, buying Elena time, sacrificing herself, her happiness, as she had a million times before, like Elena knew she would do a million times more if she needed to. Because that was who Bonnie Sheila Bennett was: a hero.

But every hero needs someone to stand with them, and there was no way, no way, Elena was leaving her here alone, with Kai.

"Bonnie, please. *Please don't do this. I won't go. You can't make me, I won't, I won't..."

"Yes, you will," Bonnie insisted, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her into the pool of light cast by the hole above, brown eyes glowing with determination. She gave her the Ascendant, then stepped back, a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you for being here. I couldn't have done this without you. Tell everyone I love them, okay? I love you, Elena," Bonnie said, and Elena screamed, telling her to stop, but it was too late, the light was everywhere and she felt this pull, deep inside, and she tried to fight it as hard as she could, because it wasn't right, she didn't want to leave Bonnie, couldn't leave her, but there was nothing she could do.

The light was all around her, and then Bonnie was falling away from her, or was she falling and then everything went dark...

Elena hit the ground, feeling like every part of her body had been broken down on some molecular level and then put back together again. She glanced up, but there was no hole above her, despite the fact she was in the same tunnel.

It worked. (Of course it worked; Bonnie's magic always worked.)

She was home.

Following the layout as best she could, Elena began running, blurring through the tunnels at break-neck speed, tears streaming in her wake. Bonnie was gone. Bonnie was there and she was here and Kai was still there and he couldn't be killed and he'd be mad, he'd be so mad, he'd try and take her magic and then do God knew what to her and...

Elena came out at the mouth of the tunnel, just a little farther along than the last one she'd been in with Elijah and Stefan, all those months ago. For a second, she thought about calling someone to pick her up, then discarded it. They wouldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it was her, would think it was some sick joke or a trap. So instead, she waited for the first car that came along, standing right in the middle of the road until they braked.

A man got out, features screwed up in fury, and Elena had him compelled in a heartbeat. In another, she was in the car. Another, and she was pulling away after making sure the man had some way of getting wherever he'd been going -maybe adding in an attitude adjustment for good measure- and was hurtling down the road.

Elena didn't stop driving until she reached the first light of New Orleans, of home.

---

Bonnie's joy at Elena getting away was short-lived. Mainly because, as soon as the light of the portal/eclipse fell away, he began firing arrows at her. Arrow after arrow after arrow. She held up a hand, trying to deflect them with her magic, but there was just too many, her magic too depleted from what she'd just done.

One embedded in her side, the same place as the last, but she kept running, adrenaline spurring her on, as well as the knowledge of what Kai had done, what he was capable of.

But it didn't matter. Elena had made it out. Elena was safe, and she'd be with Elijah and be happy. Bonnie was just sad she wouldn't be there to see it. On Elena's birthday a few months ago, they'd talked about what her wedding would be like, and Elena had said she wanted her to be her maid of honour. Now it would be Caroline's job; she was sure she'd do great.

But her...not so much. She was hurt, and scared, and had vampire blood in her system, so if Kai really did succeed in killing her...she'd come back as a vampire, just like her mom did.

Bennett witches: doomed to repeat history.

Yet that wasn't the only thing she'd inherited from her ancestors. She'd gotten that same spirit, that will to fight. If there was another way home, she'd find it.

She just had to keep fighting.

---

Elijah had lost the ability to remain upright several hours ago. He hated it, hated to show any weakness to her, but he was exhausted, starved, and bloody from his fight the night before. And...what did he have to hold on to? What did he have to keep him going? The love of his life was dead, he would likely never see his niece -or his sister- again and Niklaus was just as angry and tormented as ever. What was there to hold on to?

His mother kept spewing her pitch, calling him broken, and he didn't even have the strength to deny her. He couldn't deny her, for it was the truth: Elena's death had broken him, broken him irreparably. But what would she think of him if he simply gave up? Although she wasn't here now, Elijah could imagine what she'd say if she were.

'Nothing in life is ever easy, Elijah. Every day is a battle, some worse than others. But what Esther's offering you, it won't solve anything. You are who you are, for better or worse. You're the man I fell in love with, who protected me and defended me and never made me feel like I was less than extraordinary. So don't give up. Don't give in, Elijah. You know that Nik will come for you. You just have to keep fighting. If not for yourself, than for everyone who loves you, because, shockingly enough, it's not just me. You matter, Elijah. Maybe not to her, not the way you want, deep down, but you're a Mikaelson, and they wouldn't survive without you. Don't let her take away your choice, not again.'

"You will hang here, remembering," Esther continued saying, and Elijah thought sardonically that he knew where Klaus' propensity for monologuing came from. "Every atrocity you've hid behind that door will emerge to haunt you. And, as you grow weaker, you will be ripped of your strength, your will, your hope."

Hope. What an apt choice of words. She thought she was belittling, diminishing his strength, but she was only reminding him of why he couldn't give in. He had to protect her, make this city safe for her. He couldn't do that as a human. Sometimes only a monster could defeat another monster. "And, as you rot here, alone, you will reconsider my offer. A new life. A way to be free of your demons. A chance at peace."

Peace.

So, Elijah closed his eyes, and he found it. Because he was dreaming. Was dreaming of her.

---

It had been a long, long day for Klaus. Cami was now safe in her apartment, the White Oak stake was back in his possession, Davina had run off with Kol to do...whatever, and he'd even been able to have a -somewhat- civil conversation with Marcel, consisting of, "I wouldn't direct you to the bathroom if your arse was on fire, and I have a memory like no other. I remember everything bad...and good. Keep that in mind."

See! He was able to both thank and threaten him, all in the same sentence, plus get in a pop culture TV reference.

Rounding the banister of the Abattoir, Klaus opened his bedroom door, smiling at the sight of Hayley, asleep, his preferred pillow cuddled to her chest. Ever since they'd sent Hope away with Rebekah, there'd been...something. He wasn't sure what, exactly, but he knew that he couldn't lose her, not again, and she brought out his protective side like no one else, except their daughter. He didn't know if it was love, or gratitude, but he did feel for her, and every time she crawled into his bed after a nightmare, he held on to her with everything he had.

Because he had such nightmares too. But she was the only one he told, the only one he allowed to comfort him. They were both broken, but maybe they could heal...together. Wouldn't that be something?

Heading to his studio instead, Klaus had just poured himself a drink and picked up a paintbrush when he heard it.

Footsteps on the street outside. Running. Like hell itself was on their heels.

Abandoning his drink, Klaus jumped down from the railing and onto the floor below, ready to intercept the stranger. The two collided, the person barrelling into the hybrid with such force that he took a step back.

"What the bloody hell do you-" he began, but stopped, when he heard a familiar heartbeat, saw a flash of brown hair over brown eyes, a face stained with tears.

"Nik," Elena Gilbert sobbed, putting her arms around him, crying into his shoulder.

He didn't move. He couldn't breath.

Immediately, he pulled back, going on the defensive. "How do I know you're really Elena? You could be another doppelgänger, or Katerina back from the grave for all I know."

She -whoever she was- didn't seem angered by the question, she seemed to have anticipated it, be comforted by it. Wiping at her face, she murmured in a ragged breath, "After Markos went into my mind and gave me and Stefan those crazy fantasy visions, I came to you and said that if anything ever happened to me, it would be up to you to take care of Elijah, that you couldn't let him fall apart, that it would be your turn to be the big brother."

She had. She was right.

"Elena," he breathed out, pulling her against his chest. Elena relaxed against him, sobs returning. Klaus simply held her, smoothing her hair back, telling her that everything was going to be alright.

"Where's Elijah?" she asked him, looking over his shoulder as if she expected him to appear.

Klaus didn't answer her, instead deflecting, "Why do you look like you've just come from 1994?" he inquired, gesturing to her ripped jeans, denim jacket, knee-high boots and Green Day t-shirt."

"Because I just did," she said, completely serious. "Now, Niklaus, I'll ask again: where is Elijah? Where's my fiancée?"

Fiancée? When did that happen?

The Original hybrid opened his mouth, scrabbling for words, when he heard Haley get out of bed, leaning so far out over the banister he was in fear of her tumbling over.

"Elena? Oh my God, is that you?"

"It is," she nodded, but her eyes did leave Klaus' face as she said, "Who do I need to kill?"

---

Author's Note: Hi, everyone! I'm back with the sequel to 'Give Me (Back My) Love.' I'm not sure how many chapters this one will be, either two or three, but it is the last part in the series. I just want to say thank you to everyone who's read this series or left a review; it means the world to me. This one was a big task to write, so it'll be a while before I dive in to chapter two, but I promise everything will work out.

Happy Monday!

All my love, Temperance Cain.